Don’t sleep on Insomnia: Popular cookie brand just opened its 300th store, with another set for Fishtown

Warm cookies are coming to more places in the U.S.

Insomnia Cookies, the Philadelphia-founded cookie company, celebrated the opening of its 300th store last week in Seattle and estimates that it will open 55 new stores this year — the most locations it has ever opened in a single year, according to the business.

The expansion comes as the company welcomed new investors this year and is expecting to open a Fishtown location in Philadelphia soon.

"The expanded capabilities from our new investors will accelerate the brand's growth into both new and existing markets, and we are excited to deliver on the growing demand for warm, delicious cookies from Insomniacs across the globe," Seth Berkowitz, CEO and founder of Insomnia Cookies, said via email on Friday.

Insomnia Cookies said it aimed to open over 1,500 stores in the United States in "the next few years," according to a company statement released in July shortly after the company welcomed new investors. More recently, last week, a statement from the company noted a more specific plan of opening over 1,800 new stores in the U.S. in the next 10 years.

First, a new Fishtown location at 17 W. Girard Ave. is expected to open in late winter, Berkowitz confirmed to The Inquirer on Friday.

Reaching 95% of U.S. households Insomnia Cookies was "working toward an overall goal of delivering cookies to 95% of U.S. households ," as of at least 2023, according to a statement from the company that year. The business has been making strides toward that including by opening a location in New York City's Penn Station this year, as the company's first outpost to offer a full coffee menu with lattes and cappuccinos.

Krispy Kreme, the company known for its doughnuts, sold its majority stake ownership of Insomnia Cookies in July. It had previously bought a 74.5% of the Insomnia Cookies stake in 2018 for around $139.5 million. The majority ownership was sold to Verlinvest, an international investment company founded in 1995, and Mistral Equity Partners, a private equity firm based in New York City. Krispy Kreme became a minority shareholder in the deal with roughly 34% stake.

At the time of the deal, Berkowitz told The Inquirer , it "positions us for tremendous success." The new investors, as well as increased demand "has fueled" the company's expansion plan, Berkowitz said Friday.

Some 13 locations are expected to open in the fall of 2025, including in Grand Prairie, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; and Hartford, Conn.

To reach 1,800 new stores in 10 years, the company would need to open an average of 180 stores per year, a 227% increase compared to its expected store openings this year.

Berkowitz, who launched the company in 2003 while he was still a student at the University of Pennsylvania , has recently taken the warm cookies beyond the United States as well. The company announced last year that it planned to open its first stores in Canada and the United Kingdom in 2023 and, to date, has two open in Canada and four in the U.K. In the coming months, two new U.K. bakeries are expected to open as well as an additional bakery in Canada, said Berkowitz.